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Background: Environmental hazards may play a role in the etiology of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). Some studies have found an increased incidence of CTCL among workers in chemical science, transportation, and manufacturing industries, but other studies have not. This discrepancy may be attributable to population migration, complicating accurate assessment of lifetime exposures. The Pittsburgh population has very low migration rates and most CTCL patients seen at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Cutaneous Lymphoma Center are life-long local residents. The Greater Pittsburgh Area used to be an industrial hub. There are residential communities positioned within close proximity to inactive industrial sites that continue to contain pollutants.Objective: To determine whether CTCL patients’ residences cluster within specific Pittsburgh regions, in particular, those with high levels of environmental pollutants.Methods: Our study included patients diagnosed with CTCL at the UPMC Cutaneous Lymphoma Center between 2000 and 2012. We mapped the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of patients’ residences at diagnosis, superfund sites, toxic release inventory sites, particular matter levels, and dermatologists’ offices using ArcMap 10.1. We then performed a SaTScan analysis using zip codes to assess for geographic clustering of patients’ residences in the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area. We assessed for a correlation between case distribution and both environmental hazards sites and dermatologist density in the area.Results: We identified 274 patients with CTCL in the Greater Pittsburgh area. We identified a statistically significant geographic cluster (p

Scientific research involves going beyond the well-trodden and well-tested ideas and theories that form the core of scientific knowledge. During the time scientists are working things out, some results will be right, and others will be wrong. Over time, the right results will emerge. Lisa Randall (Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science, Physics Department, Harvard University)We are grateful to all the commentators for the important and thoughtful comments raised in response to the Geskin and Behrmann (G & B) literature survey. The issues raised in the introduction to this Special Issue and in these commentaries not only address and challenge aspects of the G & B literature review, but contribute perspectives and extensions that go well beyond the scope of the review. As is evident from G & B and from the 13 commentaries, many aspects of congenital prosopagnosia (CP) remain controversial. Adopting the language of the quote above, the intention of the G & B survey, along with the commentaries and this response, is to establish a collaborative process from which the right results (and right theory) will emerge in time. We are grateful to the editor of this Special Issue, Dr. Brad Mahon, for his support and for facilitating this collaborative exchange in Cognitive Neuropsychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A longstanding controversy concerns the functional organization of high-level vision, and the extent to which the recognition of different classes of visual stimuli engages a single system or multiple independent systems. We examine this in the context of congenital prosopagnosia (CP), a neurodevelopmental disorder in which individuals, without a history of brain damage, are impaired at face recognition. This paper reviews all CP cases from 1976 to 2016, and explores the evidence for the association or dissociation of face and object recognition. Of the 238 CP cases with data permitting a satisfactory evaluation, 80.3% evinced an association between impaired face and object recognition whereas 19.7% evinced a dissociation. We evaluate the strength of the evidence and correlate the face and object recognition behaviour. We consider the implications for theories of functional organization of the visual system, and offer suggestions for further adjudication of the relationship between face and object recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]